Waiver Wire: March 28th

by
March 28, 2011

Spring Training position battles are starting to be settled and injuries are starting to have more of an impact on the regular season. Let’s look at a temporary closer and new everyday outfielder…

Brian Fuentes | RP | Ownership: 42% Yahoo, 8.9% ESPN

Top notch closer Andrew Bailey is going to miss the start of the season due to a muscle strain in his forearm (as opposed to a more damning ligament injury), and manager Bob Geren said that Fuentes will get the lion’s share of the save opportunities in Bailey’s absence. Grant Balfour will see a few as well, depending on the matchups according to Geren. Fuentes is a pure saves pickup more than anything, but he’ll offer a little help in ERA (3.41 over the last two years), WHIP (1.24) and strikeout (8.1 K/9) categories as well. Playing in the spacious Coliseum will give his value a little bit of a boost too.

Balfour, by the way, is owned in just 3% of Yahoo! leagues and in fewer than 1% of ESPN leagues. I just get the feeling that Geren will turn to Fuentes more often than not in those spots; that “proven closer” tag can be tough for managers to ignore sometimes.

Mike Morse | 1B, OF | Ownership: 32% Yahoo, 8.4% ESPN

The Nats’ outfield picture has (predictably) cleared up as we move closer to Opening Day. Jayson Werth will handle right field, Rick Ankiel beat out the since-traded Nyjer Morgan for the center field job, and Morse will get the nod in left. The 29-year-old (finally) broke out last year, hitting .289/.352/.519 (.374 wOBA) with 15 homers in 293 PA, the vast majority of which came in the second half. The right-handed hitting Morse demolished lefties (.423 wOBA, 8 HR, 99 PA) and more than held his own against righties (.353 wOBA, 7 HR, 194 PA), but apparently he’s got the job outright. The trade of Morgan could open up the possibility of a platoon with Roger Bernadina, of which Morse draws the short end of the playing time stick. He’s risky, but there’s the upside of a solid AVG and 20 homers with playing time, not bad for a fantasy bench piece/last outfielder.

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Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.

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Reuben
14 years ago

Are there more deeper leagues in Y! or what?

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